The present invention relates to a railway freight car truck and, more particularly, to an improved bearing adapter for use in the pedestal jaw opening of the sideframe of a railway freight car truck.
In a railway freight car truck, two axles are held in a pair of laterally spaced sideframes, with a bolster extending laterally between and supported on each sideframe. The wheels are press fit on the axles, with the ends of the axles also fitted with a roller bearing assembly. The roller bearing assembly itself is fit into a bearing adapter that is fit into a pedestal jaw opening at the longitudinal end of each sideframe. The ends of the bolsters are themselves supported on spring groups, which spring group can be directly supported on the lower portion of the center openings of the sideframes or which can be directly supported on a transom which in turn is fitted on the center opening of the sideframes. Such a railway truck is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,441, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,045, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, discloses an adapter and pad assembly useful in the fitting of the bearing assembly into the pedestal jaw opening of each sideframe. The bearing adapter, which is itself fit on top of the bearing assembly, is comprised of a unitary steel or iron piece. This piece includes shoulders that are laterally spaced to form a receiving opening at each longitudinal edge of the bearing adapter. An elastomeric adapter pad is fitted on top of the bearing adapter. The adapter pad itself is disclosed to be comprised of an injection molded polymer or a castable polyurethane. The adapter pad itself includes depending legs which extend from opposite longitudinal edges of the adapter pad. The depending legs are spaced laterally at each longitudinal edge of the adapter pad such that the depending legs are received in openings between the laterally spaced shoulders of the bearing adapter.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bearing adapter and adapter pad for use in a railway truck sideframe pedestal opening.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved bearing adapter and adapter pad for use in a railway car truck utilizing a transom bolster and spring support system.